Days 72 to 74 – Chennai & Mahabalipuram
Day 72 – Monday, 6th Jan 2014 to Day 74 – Wednesday, 8th Jan 2014
It’s Monday morning 8:30 am, our train Charminar Express has pulled into one of the four eminent metro cities of India. This time, we are in Chennai previously known as Madras. As we step out of the station and head to the prepaid auto stand, Khyati reminds me to speak in English. If you tend to speak in Hindi, hardly anyone understands or if they do, they pretend that they don’t follow you. We find our way to Gujarat Bhavan in Broadway, a suburb of Chennai – a quick ride from the station.
It’s 1:30 pm and post lunch, we take a local bus to Marina beach. It’s good to check at the inquiry counter before you board the bus. All the buses have destinations written in Tamil which makes it very difficult to judge which is the right bus for your destination.
Our bus comes to a halt on the main road near Marina beach, the bus conductor shouts – ‘Mariiina, Mariiina’. It’s 3 pm in the afternoon, the weather is blazing hot. What a drastic difference from the North to the South. We faced freezing temp in Dalhousie and Dharamshala and Chennai is scorching hot.
The sand is quite warm and we enjoy a walk along the long coastline. Marina beach is one of the longest beaches, distance being 15 kms. We eat some fresh corn from the street side vendors.
at Marina beach
In the evening, we visit a few other monuments – Anna Memorial, MGR memorial, Chepauk campus of Madras University and Victory War memorial.
Victory War Memorial
It’s 7:30 pm, both of us are quite tired from all the walking. We crave some good food and head to Sarvanaa Bhavan – a South Indian high quality chain restaurant. This one has branches in London and we know that the food will be good. Chennai is known for filter coffee, if you are here – do try the filter coffee. It’s quite good.
We head back to Gujarat Bhavan and call it a night around 10:30 pm.
Outside of Chennai, there are quite a few good tourist spots – Mahabalipuram, Pondicherry, Vellore, Tirupathi. Ofcourse, we weren’t going to be able to cover all these places but we decide to explore Mahabalipuram the next day. It’s the closest to Chennai at a distance of 55 kms.
Lot of private tour operators take you to Mahabalipuram but we decided to give them a skip and travel on our own. We take the public transport to CMBT – Chennai Mofussil Bus Terminus and take the state bus from there heading towards Pondicherry.
Chennai to Mahabalipuram
As you can see, the route goes right along the coast and is very scenic. We enjoy the hour ride and reach Mahabalipuram by noon. Mahablipuram is quite a small town and there are 5-6 attractions which can be covered on foot. Our first stop is the Shore temple.
Shore temple
The temple is right along the shore but over the years, the salty water and winds have eroded on it’s stone carvings and hence the temple area has got fences hopefully to preserve it for long. We walk along the sand beach and sit on the stones for a while. Strong waves lash the shore as we marvel at the vastness of the ocean.
We visit a few other places – Arjuna’s penance, Five Rathas, Light house and a set of caves. The caves are on a hill top and we hike the distance.
On this rock stood this lone goat. We wondered how it got on top of the rock. We spent an hour near this site and the poor animal was standing still. Did it get stuck there? We can only wonder.!
lone goat on a rock
From the top of the Light house, there are stunning views of the town and the sea.
at the Lighthouse
It’s 6:30 pm and we have covered all the attractions here. We have some light dinner and take the state bus back to Chennai. We reach our hotel by 8:30 pm and call it a night around 10:30 pm.
One thing I found amusing in Chennai is the amount of publicity Tamil Nadu’s current chief minister has got. She has got her pictures on hoardings, bill boards, sign boards at any attractions, various monuments, etc. She has even got a mineral water bottle by her name and it has her picture on it. hah!
Amma mineral water
I will tell you a funny story I heard somewhere – Jayalalithaa is the current Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu and Rajnikanth is an extremely popular film actor. He is treated as GOD by most locals.
There is a rule in Tamil Nadu that if Jayalalitha’s convoy is passing by any street, the traffic police will close down that area for 15-20 minutes for any other vehicular traffic.
Story has it that one day, Rajnikanth was traveling in his car to a film shooting and was running a bit late. The traffic police had started blocking roads for normal vehicular traffic as Jayalalitha’s convoy was going to pass. Rajnikant requested that as his car was right in the front, they let him pass as he did not want to be more late for the shooting. The traffic cop rubbished him and said that he could walk if he wanted to but the roads will remain closed for the next 15-20 minutes. Rajnikant got off his car and started walking. There was a manic 3 1/2 hour traffic jam on that road and even the Chief Minister’s convoy was stuck in that madness. This goes to say the popularity of Rajnikant. Obviously, Rajnikant and Jayalalitha being friends, Jayalalitha accorded him special status and allowed his car to pass in such situations.
It’s Wednesday and we visit a few friends and relatives house today. It was good to meet one of our good friends – Heena Pratik Gala from London.
with Heena and her family
In the evening, we visit a few Jain temples and Kapaleshwar temple in Mylapore area of Chennai.
It’s 8:30 pm, we are at Chennai Egmore station and board Rameshwaram Express to Rameshwaram. Have you seen the movie Chennai Express? Here, Shahrukh Khan has to go to Rameshwaram to immerse his grand father’s ashes. It’s a holy pilgrimage site for Hindus.
Rameshwaram Express
Tomorrow, we explore Rameshwaram, stay tuned for our next post.
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Best wishes,
Paras